Bombarded Belayers

I was belaying in a slot at the bottom of a drainage. My friend got off route and sent a large rock my way. I couldn't see it but it sounded big and scary! I tucked against the wall and opened my eyes to a cloud of white (this could be the afterlife, I thought). The rock had exploded into sand just above me...

I caught a #2 c4 while belaying. The leader dropped it from ~140' up and out of sight on pitch six. It was the first and last true ninja skill moment of my life.

i was pinned at a belay at Beacon Rock by an angry peregrine falcon.

it damn near attacked the leader, then sat perched on a ledge about 3 feet above my head, basically sayin, "make a move, i dare ya"

Tent.

Bird poo, quickkdraws, stoppers, ice...oh and a rock twice the size of my head that landed right next to my feet.

Softball sized rock got knocked down by the leader. I was wearing flip flops. I lost my discipline for a few seconds and glanced away while wearing belay glasses. I didn't hear any warning until there was no chance to react. It landed on my foot after a little bounce off the slab start to the route. Just got two little bloody scrapes on the top of my foot. I barely felt it, really.

a chuckwalla lizard(calico basin)

Walking below el cap and a grigri landed right next to me.

is it raining? Nope that's urine.

My first year of climbing we were on the standard route on Cathedral, and I was stupid enough to sit in the middle of the chimney while belaying. My head was tilted and I was gazing down, a rock the size of a egg went skipping off the top of my head (no helmet)I watched it go shooting off into the trees. I was pretty much OK but if I had my head up and been looking out instead of down I believe it would have hit me square.

Matt Carroll wrote:Walking below el cap and a grigri landed right next to me.

Late season Willoughby, attached to the anchor 50m off the deck, see chunks of ice the size of microwave and freezer doors exploding all over the 2 foot ice ledge I'm on.
40m higher, the leader had decided to traverse the delaminated top right over the belay.

While ice climbing on Stairway to Heaven ~circa 1990. A deer … not on me but near my friend's belay. It was not a pretty sight as it fell several hundred feet after slipping on ice. That pretty much ended the day.

Though not while belaying but climbing Mt. Blanc I had a climber go skating by me. Thought I was going to watch someone go for the big ride but after a couple hundred meters he managed to stop himself.

My partner and I were on the Launch Pad on Whitehorse in NH and a party yelled rock from the base of the arch. I hear metal pinging off the rock as it bounced down the slab and a I looked a few feet to my left as it flew by. Nut tool...

Mark NH wrote:OK, so it didn't hit me but it was pretty damn close - a shopping cart. Back in the late 80's at Rock Rimmon! When it was really sketchy! Probably the last time I climbed there!

Mark NH wrote:
OK, so it didn't hit me but it was pretty damn close - a shopping cart. Back in the late 80's at Rock Rimmon! When it was really sketchy! Probably the last time I climbed there!

Zac.St.Jules wrote: That was you?! I've heard that story before!

shopping cart gets my vote.

I once had my wallet fall out of my pocket and spill its contents on the Dangler at the Gunks. I noticed when I looked down and saw several $20 bills gently floating down the cliff under me. After an embarrassing time lowering down to recover all but one off the ledgy terrain below and then belaying my partner while he finished the pitch for me, we rappelled down to the base where I met some guy who was understandably a bit POed that a quarter had landed on his head from 150 feet up.

The mid pitches of East Face of Whitney is known for being loose, but when the party above yelled "Rock!" (yet again) we couldn't quite tell what went whipping past, but it wasn't a rock. Then a huge rant started above, the main theme being, "I can't believe I dropped my F*** Rolex watch!" We met up at a ledge and the guy, still pissed, said he decided he was being stupid by climbing with the watch so he took it off...

Thought it would be fun to bump this thread, with the helmet one still going!

The two we could contribute is that a leatherman type tool was unscathed falling the full rope distance onto rocks, and bouncing off some more rocks, (during a rappel), and, my son hung on to a football size piece that broke off the large rock that landed beside him when belaying. Just doesn't stack up to a shopping cart or bighorn sheep, though.

I loved this thread! :-D